Why Tells Work: Mike Caro

Mike Caro Professional Poker Player - and amazing poker coach!

The statements above are commonly uttered, homespun wisdom – and are wrong! Totally wrong. Horribly wrong.

ACTORS
It’s not enough to know how a person acts when he’s bluffing. When you understand why he acts that way, you’ll be able to read him, even in unfamiliar situations.

Thoreau said, “The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation.” Most people are prevented from living life as they want. In childhood, they’re required to do chores they hate. They grow up having to conform at school. As adults, they must shake hands they don’t want to shake, socialise with people they dislike, pretend they’re feeling “fine” when they’re really miserable, act “act” in control of situations where, in truth, they feel frightened and unsure. These people – the majority of folks you meet everyday – are actors. They present themselves to you as people different than they really are.

Deep within themselves they know they are not the same person they pretend to be. On an unconscious level, they think, “Hey, I’m so phoney that if I don’t act to disguise my (poker) hand, people will see right through me!”

And that’s why the majority of these pitiful people are going to give you their money by always acting weak when they are strong and strong when they are weak.

CAN’T AFFORD TO TELL THE TRUTH
When people play poker, they find themselves in an unfamiliar environment. In real life they lie sometimes. They mislead sometimes. In poker they have to mislead or lie all the time. They simply cannot afford to tell the truth in a dependable way. Otherwise they might as well spread their cards face-up on the table.

Ah, I hear you thinking, “Some players tell the truth about their hands, sometimes.” And you’re right. That’s why I said “in a dependable way.” When an opponent declares truthfully, “Don’t call me, I have a flush,” he’s hoping you don’t believe him or that you, at least, have doubts. He’s hoping that you will call, so he can say, “I told you so.”

In poker, your hand is your secret. Now, you can take this next part as gospel: If an opponent, trying to win your money, voluntarily does anything that he thinks you’re observing, it’s an attempt to confuse you. When poker players put on an act – subtle o5r obvious – they’re trying to convince you that the nature of their hand is something alien to the truth.

And, so, were born my theories of tells. Central to my teaching is something called Caro’s Great Law of Tells: “Players are either acting or they aren’t. If they are acting, then decide what they want you to do – and disappoint them!”

Easier said than done, you’re thinking. Not really. You can usually determine that an opponent truly is acting if you see any mannerisms that are unnecessary.

WEAK WHEN STRONG
Right now, you need to know something of extra-special importance: your opponents will strongly tend to act weak when they hold strong hands and act strong when they hold weak ones.

Put these 2 concepts together and it should be obvious to you that if you see a bettor shrug conspicuously, he holds a strong hand. His shrug is meant to deceive you by making you think he’s in doubt about making the wager or that he is possibly bluffing. Don’t be fooled. A player who was truly weak or bluffing wouldn’t go out of his way to share his doubt. That would invite a call. Any invitation to call should be declined, unless you, too, hold a powerful hand.

This tell isn’t just from novice players either. Even pros do this, but the important thing is, the more sophisticated the player, the less exaggerated the tell. It’s still there, just reduced in scope. Against experienced players, peer deeper. Listen harder. Their tells come in whispers, not shouts.

Tells come in lots of varieties: there are involuntary tells, in addition to the acted one. For instance a suddenly shaking hand is never a bluff, even though many experienced poker players become suspicious and mistakenly call when they see it happen.

Ever hear a sad sigh at the poker table? All the time? And when we hear it, we know better than to call, right?

TELLS ARE REAL
Tells can account for a large share of your profit. You’ll discover them in all types of players, from beginners to world-class pros. And all you need to do is disappoint any opponent who tries to influence you. You do this usually by folding when he acts weak and calling when he acts strong.

Poker tells surround you – and they’re pure profit. They work because opponents aren’t accustomed to lying or misleading all the time, but in poker, they must. And they usually do it quite poorly.

Mike Caro

 

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